Taguchi method for optimizing process parameters in the production of activated carbon from rubber seed shell

• Published in: International journal of advanced manufacturing technology Vol. 107; no. 11-12; pp. 4609 - 4620
• Main Authors: Oemar, Barlin, Chang, Wei-Chin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01.04.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activated carbon; CAE) and Design; Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD; Design of experiments; Design parameters; Engineering; Industrial and Production Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Media Management; Optimization; Original Article; Process parameters; Reagents; Rubber; Taguchi methods; Variance analysis; Activated carbon; Product yield; Analysis of variance; Amorphous percentage; Taguchi method
• ISSN: 0268-3768; 1433-3015
• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-020-05344-4

Activated carbon is widely used in many applications. This study aims to optimize the most influential processing parameters of the activated carbon production from rubber seed shell. The Taguchi method is applied to gain 9 combinations of experimental design from three processing parameters, namely chemical reagent concentration, activation temperature, and activation time. By using the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the most influential processing parameters of activated carbon production are found as chemical reagent concentration and activation temperature. The optimal product yield and amorphous percentage can be achieved when chemical reagent concentration, activation temperature, and activation time are chosen as 25 wt.%—600 °C—1.0 h and 25 wt.%—600 °C—2.5 h, respectively. As conclusions, the product yield is influenced by the activation temperature, while the amorphous percentage is affected by the activation time. The Taguchi method is an appropriate approach for optimizing the parameters to produce the activated carbon.